Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 July 2009
The Soviet doctrine of foreign state immunity starts out from the principle that state sovereignty, the sovereign equality of states, underlies this rule of international law. Sovereignty is an indefeasible attribute of every state. It follows from the legal equality of states, and their mutual independence, that no state may wield power with regard to another state, its organs and its property.
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11. This follows from Art. 11 of the 1977 Constitution of the USSR, Art. 21 of the Fundamental Principles of Civil Legislation of the USSR and Union Republics, Art. 19 of the Merchant Shipping Code of the USSR.
12. See for the text of the Agreement Sbornik deistvuiushchikh dogovorov, soglashenii i konventsii, zakliuchennykh SSSR s inostrannymi gosudarstvami [Collection of Treaties, Agreements and Conventions in Force, Concluded by the USSR with Foreign States], vol. XXIX (Moskva 1975) pp. 363–367.Google Scholar
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16. 54 AJIL (1960) p. 410.
17. See Gureev, S.A., “Protivopravnaia pozitsiia sudebnoi praktiki SShA v oblasti immuniteta gosudarstvennykh morskikh torgovykh sudov” [The unlawful position of US court practice in the field of the immunity of state merchant vessels], Soviet Yearbook of International Law, 1969 (Moskva 1970) p. 340.Google Scholar
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19. Congressional Record, vol. 122 (1976).
20. XVII ILM (1978) pp. 720–725.
21. Op.cit, p. 725.